The present invention relates essentially to a self-adhesive strip which is for example able to form a rain drop or a water-groove joint for an automobile vehicle.
The terms xe2x80x9crain drop jointxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwater groove jointxe2x80x9d designate a joint provided to be positioned on the body of a vehicle at the level of the upper part of the door frame and which is used, on the one hand, for preventing water from running along the window pan or entering within the passenger space and, on the other hand, for limiting aerodynamic noises.
Up to now, in the automobile industry in particular, no self-adhesive joints have ever been proposed, and more particularly such adhesive joints that are designed for permitting automatically, by means of a tool, a precise positioning of the joint and the application thereof by pressure on the element which must receive this joint.
The present invention has therefore for its purpose to fill this gap.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a self-adhesive strip forming for example a joint for an automobile vehicle, comprising a self-adhesive face and, on a face thereof that is opposed to this self-adhesive face, a rail shaped protrusion permitting its guiding by means of a tool for fixing the strip by pressure.
According to a preferred embodiment, this strip comprises two wings that are articulated together by one of their two longitudinal edges. One of the wings, or a first wing, comprises the above-mentioned self-adhesive face and, on its opposed face, the above-mentioned protrusion which protrudes on the side of the other wing, or second wing.
The above-mentioned rail shaped protrusion can be integral with the first wing through at least one thinned portion of material permitting to separate said protrusion from the first wing after positioning of the strip.
According to still another feature of the strip of the invention, the first wing comprises a free edge with a lip, or a first lip, that is oriented on the side of the self-adhesive face for concealing it and an opposite edge which comprises a heel and is connected to the second wing by means of a hinge that is recessed from said heel.
According to another feature of this invention, the second wing is connected in a substantially orthogonal manner to the first wing by means of the above-mentioned hinge and has an arcuate shape with a concavity that is turned on the side of the face of the first wing that supports the above-mentioned protrusion.
The second wing comprises a cavity and ends by a lip shaped free end.
According to still another feature of the strip of the invention, the free end of the first wing comprises a second lip which extends in front of the second wing, opposite the above-mentioned first lip.
The above-mentioned rail shaped protrusion may have a cross-sectional shape enabling its guiding, and particularly a square shape, a rectangular shape, a triangular shape, or another shape able to cooperate with a tool having a shape that corresponds to said protrusion. This tool may for example be a grooved roller or a hand tool such as a smoothing iron having a notch of a shape corresponding to said protrusion.
The self-adhesive face of the first wing comprises an adhesive coating that is housed in said face and covered with a removable protective tape.